Lost in La Mancha

reviewed by Dave

Ever have a really bad day? You know the kind of day where everything just keeps going wrong? Take that day, turn it into weeks, and imagine that there’s around 30 million dollars at stake.

Lost in La Macha is the story of Director Terry Gilliam’s attempt to film “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” his take on Don Quixote, the famous novel by Miguel de Cervantes.

Gilliam had already struggled for a decade to film this movie, and had already been through other unsuccessful attempts. But this time, everything looked set to really happen. Johnny Depp had signed on to play a major part (he appears in several scenes in the documentary) and Jean Rochefort was to play the title character. The 70-year-old French actor spent seven months learning English so he could land this dream role.

During pre-production, two film students were given cameras and allowed full access to Gilliam and his team, with the intention of documenting the filmmaking process. What they got instead was “Lost in La Mancha,” a film that documents how the filmmaking process can fall apart.

How do you film a 60 million dollar movie on a 30 million dollar budget? How do you shoot a period movie when fighter jets are flying overhead? How do you film your female lead when you can’t get her to the set? How do you film your main character (who spends a huge part of the film atop a horse) when he has a prostate illness? And how many days do you need to let your gear dry out when an unscheduled rain storm turns your set into a flood plain?

Anyone who loves film should check out this inside story of a director who set out to make a movie against incredible odds, and was eventually crushed by them. His string of bad luck is so incredible that you can’t help but root for him to succeed, even when you know it can only end in tears.

It’s too bad, because what little was filmed looks like something I would have wanted to see. The good news, though, is that Gilliam intends to buy back his script and mount another attempt. I wish him luck, and after watching Lost in La Mancha, you will, too.